Culture

A Tribute to the Mainframe Computer in Movies

Hollywood is always a little ahead of the times. Movie makers have been predicting technology trends for ages — even the Jetsons and Flintstones could've told you about Skyping.

But sometimes movies really just phone it in with their tech references. Case in point: the elusive "mainframe."

The buzzword is used in everything from Sky Kids to James Bond and everyone, somehow, knows exactly what it is and what to do with it. And, apparently, these mainframes are pretty easy to hack into, considering how many movie plots rely on the data in them.

10 Star Wars Technologies We Actually Want

1. Androids

Yes, androids are dangerous, they'll inevitably revolt and kill us all, blah blah blah. But let's not forget the true heroes of Star Wars -- C-3PO and R2-D2. The droid duo saved their human companions and the galaxy itself on multiple occasions. At least, R2 did. That feisty little bucket was fiercely loyal, full of gizmos and had a universal port for accessing every computer terminal in the galaxy (except maybe Lightning connectors). Meanwhile, C-3PO speaks 6 million languages. He's a walking, talking universal translator and his storytelling skills (and general harmlessness) would make him a hit with kids (and Ewoks).

2. Mechanical Limbs

Spoiler Alert: When Luke was "disarmed" at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, it could have been a debilitating, rebellion-ending injury. But thanks to the subtly miraculous technology of his universe, he had 10 fingers again within 10 minutes. Aside from the vanity glove he wore in Return of the Jedi, and the fact that he was probably a wicked efficient high-fiver after that, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Also, let's not forget that Darth Vader, who bested Luke in lightsaber combat, was more machine than man. Pretty spry for a metal guy. Wouldn't it be nice if injured veterans and victims of disfiguring accidents could count on bionic limbs to make them whole again?

3. Lightsabers

"An elegant weapon for a more civilized age." The lightsaber is the most captivating and enduring creation of the Star Wars saga. Yeah, they're cool. But come on. Do we really need them? Earthlings haven't fought wars with swords in a while. And the last thing we'd want to give a sci-fi superfan is a white-hot blade that can cut through anything. There are dozens of lightsaber battles on YouTube, and no one had to worry about getting cut in half in the process of filming.

But how's this for elegant and civilized? Last year, a research team at the University of Texas at Austin debuted a tiny, laser-based cutting tool. The device, which drew comparisons to the Skywalker weapon of choice, may someday replace scalpels. Years of clinical trials separate it from mass production, but aspiring Jedi should take note: you will think about medical school.

4. Vaporators

Maybe not the most glamorous tech in the series, but the moisture farm where Luke Skywalker grew up would be a modern miracle. The future Jedi and his family made a living on a desert world by harvesting excess moisture out of the air. Think of the work that could be done to combat drought with real-world moisture vaporators.

A researcher at the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne clearly had the same idea; he developed his own vaporator system that could be used to irrigate plants in the harshest deserts on Earth. By lowering the temperature of moisture-rich air, his simple system collects condensation and creates water. No word yet on its programming language, but we can assume it will be very similar to binary load lifters in most respects.

5. Holograms

No, not the cheesy CNN kind. Researchers at MIT's MediaLab visited Mashable last year and promised something a bit more portable and space-age. MIT's Joi Ito speculated about holograms transported via the Internet and projected by a device comparable in size to R2-D2. Never mind Google Hangouts -- this could be the future of telecommuting.

6. Speedy Space Travel

We know, traveling through hyperspace isn't exactly like dusting crops. But is it too much to ask for at least a Millennium Falcon prototype by 2020? There are 17 billion Earth-sized planets in our galaxy alone. Shouldn't we try to check them out?

7. Hovercraft

Never mind going to space. Let's just focus on terrestrial travel for now. Can you name all the speedy hovercraft in the Star Wars universe? Luke had a pretty sweet ride for such a whiny kid. But we're not just talking about putting landspeeders in every teenager's driveway. Think about the broader applications of anti-gravity technology. The U.S. is overdue for a cross-country high-speed rail line, like the mag-lev prototype unveiled in Japan last year, or the line that recently opened in China.

8. Carbonite

If you can throw smugglers in a carbon freezer and all they get is a little hibernation sickness, just think about the uses for carbonite around the house. To be clear, no, we're not talking about the online backup software. Almost half of the food produced in the U.S. goes to waste, uneaten. If the government would look into carbon freezing, maybe we could preserve some of that food (like tibanna gas on Bespin) and send it somewhere it's needed.

9. Battle Droids

Of all the tech in Star Wars, we probably need the least innovation in the cause of actually making war. Drones are already fighting our battles from the skies. Would it be even better to put metal boots on the ground? The battle droids from The Phantom Menace were played for comedic effect, but it's not hard to imagine the U.S. would phase out human soldiers in favor of droids if that technology were available. What if we could go to war without risking American lives? It certainly sounds like a better idea than breeding an army of expendable clones, like in Episode II.

10. Super Microscopes

In Episode I, we all learned that the Force was in fact not hokey religious nonsense, but hokey science-based nonsense. Tiny, microscopic organisms called midi-chlorians were at the root of the mystical energy field. The more midi-chlorians you have, the better your chances of cultivating your Force powers. Makes sense, right? The Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn had a handy little device for measuring midi-chlorians. So why can't we have one of those to test our own Jedi-ness? And, uh, do other science stuff too.

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